Description of Course Goals and Curriculum
Intensive Korean is designed for heritage students who have already had considerable amount of exposure to the Korean language and culture, but have not received any formal instruction. Although first year Korean vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing are reviewed, the course moves at a very fast pace and students are expected to know the basics. Credit for KOR 103 will not be given unless it is followed by KOR 108, which is offered in the spring. Successful completion of KOR 103 and KOR 108 will allow students to be placed in either 3rd or 4th Year Korean if they wish to continue.
Learning From Classroom Instruction
KOR 103 meets twice a week for 1 hour and 20 minutes. The lecture slides are essentially summaries of materials from the KLEAR Integrated Korean Beginning 1 & 2 textbook. Schedules for assignments, quizzes and readings are handed out by the instructor at the beginning of every week. Before class, students are expected to have already read the chapter covered in the day’s lecture and come prepared with questions. During class, the instructor focuses mostly on vocabulary and grammar, giving students the opportunity to ask questions about the course materials after the lecture presentation. There is also a small culture section where the instructor teaches students about relevant aspects of Korean society and etiquette.
While there are some opportunities to do collaborative exercises, there isn’t a lot of focus on speaking and writing often due to a lack of time. As a result, students are encouraged to go to language tables or find a way to practice speaking on their own time. They are also expected to get writing practice through weekly journals and workbook assignments, but if students want to get more practice, they are encouraged to write more journal entries and the instructor is really good about giving feedback right away. Students meet up with the instructor once a week outside of class for a 15 minute drill section, where they can also get conversational practice. I found the drill sections extremely helpful, but felt that 15 minutes was too short to truly improve my speaking skills. In order to get more out of the drill sessions, I would advise students to come prepared with specific questions or conversational topics they want to practice. There are chapter quizzes every week, usually covering two chapters. The quizzes are broken into a vocabulary section, reading comprehension section, and a writing section. Often times, students are given 20 to 35 minutes to complete the quizzes, but I often ran out of time, so I would encourage students to start on the writing section first because it’s usually the one that’s most time consuming.
Learning For and From Assignments
Workbook AssignmentUsually 4-6 pages covering materials directly from the textbook A lot of focus on grammar and vocab Graded on a check, check plus, check minus basis Check plus is given if the mistakes on the assignment are minimal
Journal Entries2 pages of journal entries are due every week Students can choose to write about any topic, and are encouraged to build on the vocab and grammar covered in lectures Graded on a check, check plus, check minus basis Check plus is given based on the length of the journal entry, minimal spelling/grammar mistakes and overall effort
External Resources
Anki Flashcards—the Anki app uses the space repetition system and is a great tool for memorization. I found it super useful for studying Korean on the go, especially when I was in the car or happened to have extra time.
Korean Language Tables—a great way to practice speaking and connect with a community of Korean learners
Language videos on YouTube—I used these mostly when I wanted to review intonation.
Audio Files on Blackboard—make use of the audio files when you’re unsure of pronouncing certain words or phrases in the textbook
Watching Korean dramas/movies—a fun way to study language and get to know more about Korean culture. Feel free to ask the instructor for recommendations!
What Students Should Know About This Course For Purposes Of Course Selection
The levels of Korean vary from student to student but as long as you have good foundation knowledge of Korean, you should be fine. If unsure, reach out to the instructor. Also, the workload isn’t too bad, but a lot of self-study is required because unlike other intro language classes, the lectures are only twice a week. So be prepared to devote some extra time for writing and speaking practice.
Chapter SummariesBecause the course moved really fast (2 chapters per week!), I often found it helpful to make a quick summary for each chapter that was due that week. They were often a page long, and listed out the basic grammar rules along with examples. I also wrote down my questions and the vocab words that were difficult for me. In this way, I was able to make most of my class time and drill sessions. I also found these summary sheets extremely helpful when studying for midterms and finals because I could isolate the sections that I needed to work on.
Journal Entries TipWhile technically students can write their journal entries about anything, I would recommend writing about an aspect of Korean culture. For example, there were times when I wrote about Korean holidays or etiquette, which were covered in the culture section during lectures, and I was able to go back to my journal entries when studying for midterms and finals.